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Weekly Reader 6/6/14 – Man With a Plan

War and Peace Bridge

Man with a plan

The news today that the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) has final approval to proceed with it’s part in the illegal segmentation of Peace Bridge plaza expansion is perfectly positioned to enhance the standing of the plan’s prime mover, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. Cuomo has been a veritable ‘One Man Band’, gleefully promoting his ‘Final Solution’ to the age old problem of ‘progress’ at the Peace Bridge.

Time to head for the bunker.

Federal agency clears way for Peace Bridge ramps improvements

Project would restore park, direct traffic

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo is mentioned so often in this Buffalo Newsstory, we suspect he not only designed the project but even wrote the press release announcing its approval.

He’ll have a busy summer reviewing construction bids; and that will be no easy process: according to the story, as part of the bidding process, contractors will have to show how their work will have the least disruption [on traffic] at the Peace Bridge–forget the continued disruption in the lives of West Side residents and toxic assault on their health, as abatement of neither are part of the DOT mission.

More good news: the article further states thataccording to the construction bidding timetable, [Cuomo] could have a photo opportunity at the bridge in October just prior to election day in November.

What timing.

The project is handled solely by the state not, like most bridge-related work, by the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, the binational panel that oversees the span’s operations; and that is key in this transparent attempt to avoid violating a court ruling against segmentation.

The DOT goal is to get traffic off the bridge and onto the interstate. This traffic is sacred; but an anonymous state official admits that failure to execute properly “…could do real damage to Western New York traffic during construction.”